Who is ISIS?

In May 2015, ISIS forces extended their control around the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. The capture of Syria's ancient city, about 150 miles northeast of Damascus, threatens a UNESCO World Heritage Site described as having "stood at the crossroads of several civilizations,"

President Barack Obama addressed the nation in September on his plan for dealing with threats posed by the Islamic State terror group, also known as ISIS.

With its multi-pronged assault across central and northern Iraq in 2014, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has usurped Al-Qaeda as the most powerful and effective extreme jihadist group in the world.

The group was formed in 2006 as the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), eventually adding Syria to its name.

While its exact size is unclear, the group is thought to include thousands of fighters.

ISIS has been led by a man named Abu Bakr al Baghdadi since 2010. Not much is known about him, but a biography posted on jihadist websites last year said he held a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from a university in the capital. He also served four years in a U.S. prison camp for insurgents in southern Iraq.

The group has exploited a growing perception among many Sunni Muslims that they are being persecuted by the Shia-dominated government led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, starved of resources and excluded from a share of power.

It wants to establish an Islamic caliphate, or state, stretching across the region ruled by Sharia law.

ISIS is highly fanatical, killing Shia Muslims and Christians whenever possible, as well as militarily efficient and under tight direction by top leaders. Here, they are purported to be shown executing Iraqi security forces.

Iraqi police and security forces were said to be so scared of ISIS fighters that they stripped off their uniforms and fled cities like Mosul and Tikrit so they could not be identified.

ISIS seized Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, in early June and has threatened to march into Baghdad. The northwest Iraqi city of Tal Afar has also fallen to ISIS, as have two villages northeast of Baghdad.

The group subsequently beheaded two American journalists, claiming their deaths were in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes targeting ISIS. A video was released showing James Foley's (right) death on Aug. 19, 2014, and a video showing the death of Steven Sotloff (right) was released Sept. 2, 2014.

The U.S. began conducting airstrikes against checkpoints and strongholds of ISIS militants in mid-August. It also conducted humanitarian airdrops to help trapped groups of Yazidis, a religious minority and one of the groups ISIS has targeted.

ISIS video published in early 2015 appear to show the beheadings of Japanese journalists Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.

U.S. humanitarian worker Kayla Mueller was reportedly killed while being held captive by ISIS in February 2015.

In February of 2015, Egypt launched airstrikes aimed at ISIS-affiliated jihadists in Libya who are believed to have killed 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, including about a dozen whose beheadings are featured in a video published by the organization.

In May 2015, ISIS forces claimed the key Iraqi city of Ramadi -- the capital of Anbar province which U.S. forces fought bitterly for control of in 2005 and 2006. Learn more about ISIS.

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